Let's Wait Till There's Officially a Han Solo Trilogy to Sound Off on One

Is Disney expanding the Star Wars universe? Literally no one knows yet.

You probably saw the headline blaring across the internet yesterday. "EXCLUSIVE: Disney planning trilogy with Han Solo prequel and its star Alden Ehrenreich," said the New York Daily News.

Which would be big news! If it were true. The reality is a lot less earth-shattering. According to Disney insiders, Alden Ehrenreich—who is, indeed, confirmed to star as Han Solo in 2018's Untitled Star Wars Han Solo Anthology Film—has actually signed a three-picture deal. But that doesn't mean Disney is making a Han Solo trilogy; it means Disney is contractually allowing for the possibility that it may, at some point, want Alden Ehrenreich to play Han Solo more than once. This is surprising in the same way that me buying a six-pack of beer is surprising. Sure, I only want one now—but if I really like it, it's good to know I have another one waiting for me.

The internet is full of misleading spin about the state of Hollywood projects. Here are some code words to help you survive it. A "three-picture deal" doesn't mean three movies are actually going to get made. "In discussion" and "in development" and "in talks" are not the same thing as a movie formally entering production. And if an actor or director or screenwriter starts telling an interview what they'd like to do with a sequel or a reboot or a dream project… well, that probably doesn't mean anything at all.

Not convinced? Here are a few other movies that were floated as possible franchise-starters long before they ever arrived in theaters: Green Lantern. Mortdecai. The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure. Terminator: Genisys, which was slated to be the first film in a standalone trilogy. In fact, in 2014—nearly a year before Genisys hit theaters—Paramount formally announced the exact dates on which the sequels would arrive in 2017 and 2018, alongside a TV show set in the same universe. When Genisys disappointed at the box office, Paramount quietly canceled all of that.

How much digital ink has been spilled—how many comments sections are full of angry, exclamation point-laden screeds—for movies that do not and will not get made?

This is what happens when the needs of Hollywood—a slow and grinding business by nature—crash up against the needs of entertainment journalists, who often end up dissecting and debating projects that barely even exist to meet a steady daily quota of stories. Those with long memories can tick these fabled projects off a list. David O. Russell's bizarre reimagining of the Playstation series Uncharted as a blockbuster about a "a crime family that metes out justice in the world of art and antiquities," with Mark Wahlberg starring as Nathan Drake? Dead in the water. Ridley Scott's adaptation of the board game Monopoly as a film about "a Donald Trump-esque character battling with other greedy wannabe real-estate titans"? Gone (though someone should really dust that off). The live-action remake of the classic anime film Akira that Warner Bros. announced in 2002? They're still trying to get it off the ground, with Star Trek Beyond's Justin Lin pegged as the studio's new favorite to direct. Lin's take on Akira would presumably be different than the many, many versions reported to be in development over the years; directed by Christopher Nolan, or George Miller, or the Hughes Brothers, and reportedly set to star anyone from James Franco to Robert Pattinson to Zac Efron. How much digital ink has been spilled—how many comments sections are full of angry, exclamation point-laden screeds—for movies that do not and will not get made?

And yes—as a Star Wars project at a time when Star Wars basically couldn't be hotter, a Han Solo prequel trilogy is probably more likely than any of the movies listed above. But just this once, can't we all agree to wait until it actually, you know, exists before we decide how we feel about it?

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